Current motor



July 14, 1936.

w. F. KAMMER CURRENT MO TOR Filed March 28, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 14, w F K E CURRENT MOTOR File'd March .28, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 /0 I amen vio a fifammer July 14, K M E 2,7,

CURRENT MOTOR Filed March 28, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I m I o I s l l Patented July 14, 1936 UNITED srrss PAT '1" I OFFICE 5 Claims.

This invention relates to current motors and particularly to motors of this character havin feathering blades.

The general object of this invention is to provide a current motor of this character which .has been found to be particularly effective in generating power, in which friction is reduced to a minimum, and which is adapted particularly to be disposed on the bed of a stream either permanently or whenever desired to use it.

A further object is to provide a construction of this character which is particularly adapted for use as a pumping unit.

Another object is to provide a rotative screen for screening the water passing to the pump cylinders and preventing passage of debris into the pump cylinders, the screen being rotative in order to prevent clogging.

A further object is to provide a motor of this character with vanes, blades, or paddles, which are of such shape as to offer the least possible resistance to passage through the water when they are moving upstream, and provide means whereby these blades will be automatically turned to a vertical position when they reach the down stream side of the motor and automatically returned to horizontal position as they move upstream to thus ofier as little resistance as possible to the movement of the paddles from an upstream position to a downstream position.

Other objects have to do with the details of construction and arrangement of parts as will more fully appear hereinafter.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:--

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a current motor constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the motor, the blades being omitted.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3--3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation enlarged of one of the blades, the blade being broken away to show the interior construction.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring to these drawings, and particularly to Fig. 2, Ill designates a skid or skids upon which the base ll of the current motor is mounted, this base being held to the skids by bolts H2, or other suitable means. Engaged by bolts [3 with this baseis the main casting M of the pump base. This casting has a lower annular portion l 5 provided with the annular wall l6, and intermediate the height of this annular wall there is an annular inwardly and upwardly extending flange l1 formed with a bearing at its center for the insertion of the central driving shaft. The wall l6 at its upper end is recessed at l8 for the reception of a screen, which will be later described. Extending downward through the upper and lower bearings of the base is a crank shaft l9 5;; provided adjacent its lower end with a crank 2!]. The lower end of this crank shaft is provided with a step 2i resting upon ball bearings or other anti-friction bearings 22 and held in place by nuts and washers 23, or equivalent means. 10. The upper end of the annular flange I! is provided with a stuffing box and packing gland for the retention of the ball bearings 24, the ball bearings being retained in place by the annular ball-bearing retainer 25 screwed into place. The 1 packing gland is designated 26. The upper end of the shaft E9 is expanded to form a supporting disk or plate 2'! upon which the head, designated generally 28, is mounted. This head will be later described. 20

Extending through the wall l6 adjacent the lower end thereof are a plurality of cylinders each designated 28. These cylinders are alike and are shown as being held to the wall I6 by the cap screws 29 or equivalent means. The outer end of each cylinder is closed at 30. The inner end is open, and operating in these cylinders are the pistons 3| having the rods 32 connected operatively to the crank 20 by ball bearings. It will be seen that with this construction 301 when one piston is forced outward the other piston is retracted. While I have only shown two of these pistons and two cylinders, I wish it to be understood that I am not to be limited to this number as more than one pair of cylinders 35 may be used, there being proper cranks of course formed upon the shaft l9 for this purpose.

Extending circumferentially around the base M is a collector pipe 33 which opens into the several cylinders, the ports leading from the 40. cylinders into the collector pipe being controlled by means of the check valves 34 which may be of any suitable or usual construction. These check valves are so designed that as the piston moves outward the liquid in the cylinders will be 45 forced into the collector 33 and the check valves closed when the piston is retracted. Each cylinder is provided with an inlet port directly opposite the outlet port leading to the collector, and from this inlet port there is a duct 35 which opens into the chamber defined by the wall l6 and by the upwardly and inwardly extending wall ll, this chamber being designated 36.

A check valve Bl of any usual or suitable construction is provided at the junction of the duct 35 with each cylinder for the purpose of permit ting the inlet of liquid into the cylinder but preventing its outlet through the duct 35. I do not wish to be limited to the particular construction shown whereby the duct 35 is connected to the cylinder wall or whereby the check valve is mounted, as this may be obviously varied in many ways without departing from this invention, as hereinafter defined in the claims.

Of course the collector 33 is provided with a delivery pipe leading to any desired point and from which the water from the collector is discharged.

For the purpose of screening the water which passes from the river or stream into the chamber 36, I provide the screen 33 which is mounted upon and for rotation with the head 28, the lower end of this screen overlapping the face of the recess I8, the screen being supported at intervals by the supporting members 39.

The head 28 has a flat under surface which rests against the plate 21 and is held thereto in any suitable manner, as for instance by the screws 40. The interior of the head is hollow to provide an annular chamber 41, and the top of the head is closed by means of a plate 42 held to the body of the chamber by screws 43. A central many-sided chamber or compartment is formed by the wall 44, this wall having an interior flange 45 through which screws 66 pass to hold the wall in engagement with the bottom plate of. the head 28. Screws All may also extend downward thru the top plate 42 into this wall 44. The inner face of this wall is formed with a plurality of openings 48 for the passage of the blade shafts 49, and the wall 44 carries ball bearings or other anti-friction bearings 58] for these blade shafts 49. The exterior wall 5i of the chamber 4| is also provided with ball bearings 52, and with suitable stuffing boxes and packing glands, designated generally 53 holding the ball bearings in place and preventing the passage of liquid.

I have illustrated four shafts 49, and hence the central chamber 54 defined by the wall 44 is shown as being square in cross section, but it is to be distinctly understood that more than four shafts 49 might be used, and thus the chamber 54 will have a cross section depending entirely upon the number of shafts 49 which may be used. The number of blade shafts 49 which will be used will depend upon. the power desired and the circumstances of operation.

The outer ends of each of the shafts 49 is provided with a flange 55 apertured for the passage of screws or bolts to which the paddles or blades may be attached, as will now be described.

The paddles are built up preferably of wood sections, these sections being threaded or slipped over a shaft section 49 which is a continuation of the shaft 49. These shaft sections 49 are hollow and provided with ribs 56, there being preferably two of these ribs disposed diametrically opposite each other. These ribs extend the full length of the shaft section or spar tube 49 The blade which is mounted upon the shaft section 4% is for the greater portion of its length formed of. a series of wood ribs or sections 51-. Each of these sections is naviculate in form and adjacent one end is formed with the transversely extending opening 58 having the lateral extensions 59, this opening at its lateral extensions being designed to fit closely upon the shaft 49 and its keys or ribs 56, so that when one of these ribs 51 is disposed upon the shaft, it will rotate therewith. The opposite end of each wood rib 51 is provided with an opening 69 for the passage of a bolt.

The tubular shaft 4% is provided at one point in its length with a washer 6i which is welded to the tubular shaft and which forms a stop against which the adjacent rib 51 abuts. These ribs are placed tightly against each other along the length of the shaft 81 and are held forced against the stop by a nut 52 which engages the screwthreaded end of. the shaft, this nut in turn being held from unlocking by a nut lock 553. A bolt 64 also passes through the aperture 60 of all of the sections, the bolt being provided with a head 65 at one end and a nut and lock nut 66 at the other.

The ends of the paddle or blade are formed by hollow metallic caps or tips, the one tip nearest to the flange 55 being designated 61. This is preferably welded or otherwise attached to the shaft section 49 and at its inner end is provided with a flange 63 to slip over the peripheral face of the adjacent rib 51 and be engaged therewith by screws or other attaching devices 69. The opposite tip or cap 16 is also made of metal having the form in cross section of the ribs 51 and likewise slips over the adjacent rib 51 and is attached thereto by screws 1|. It is to be understood that these tips or caps 61 and 10 may be either hollow or may be reinforced by ribs of p wood or other material fitting within the caps and held thereto by screws or other suitable means. By using these metal tips 6110 it is possible to taper both the inner and outer ends of the paddle down to as sharp an edge as structural strength will permit so as to give a minimum of resistance in the upstream and downstream positions as well as when the blade is traveling upstream. The ribs 51 will be preferably of twoinch plank treated so as to preserve them from the action of water. The tie rod 64 is of sufficient size and weight as to assist in sinking or depressing the trailing edge of the blade when the blade starts on its down-stream travel, that is, upon its power stroke. Obviously the blades cannot turn upon the shaft section 49 so that the blade as a whole is held from movement independent of the shaft section 49 and shaft 49 The length and width of the blades will vary with the work to be done and with the sluggishness of the stream. Thus these blades will be larger for driving the same number of cylinders in sluggish water than they would be in a stream of high current speed.

For the purpose of causing the shafts 49 and with them the blades, to turn automatically thru as a blade reaches the end of its down-stream stroke and starts to move up-stream against pressure of the water, I mount upon each shaft 49 and disposed within the chamber 4!, the stop collar This in Fig. 3 is shown as being keyed upon the shaft 69 and as being also held to this shaft by means of set screws 13. This stop collar is provided with two lugs 14 and T5 projecting from the stop collar at right angles to each other. This collar rests within a semi-circular seat 16 formed in the upper end of a bearing member 11. The walls of the seat, at 18, constituting opposed stops against which the lugs 14 and 15 will strike as the stop collar and shaft 49 rotate, and when the shaft iii and the blade are moving downstream under the influence of the current, the blade or paddle will be disposed in a vertical position and the pressure of the water against the rear face of the blade will cause the lug 14 to bear 'againstthe'face 18 on that side and thus the shaft 49 will be held with the blade in its pressure receiving position, that is, vertical. The blade will remain inthis position until the shaft commences to turn from a position at right angles to the current into a position parallel With the current, and as the blade is carried around and particularly as the blade starts to move upward against the current, the'force of the currentstriking the opposed face of the blade will shift the blade into a horizontal position, rotating the shaft 49 until the lug I4 strikes the adj acent face 18. The blade will then be stopped in this horizontal position. Thus the actions of the blades in feathering is entirely automatic, there being no connections of any kind to the power head shaft to cause them to oscillate. When a blade is progressing upstream it will automatically fiatten out or feather and find the line of least resistance. After reaching a point slightly past the point where it heads up-stream, the trailing edge of the blade being heavier and being weighted by the bolt 64, will, with the push of the current, become vertical. The blade will then progress down-stream in this vertical position until it passes the exact downstream direction, and then as it starts upward again it will again become horizontal. The tie rod 54 is of sufiicient weight to assist in sinking or depressing the trailing edge of the blade and the eccentricity of the blades is such that after the blade has started downstream, pressure will build up almost immediately to a degree where it will force the blade into vertical position.

As before mentioned, this machine is designed to be disposed on the river bottom, and it may be pulled in or out of the river for servicing. 7

It may be mounted on any suitable means for this purpose, as for instance, a stone boat or sled or it may be mounted on a truck carried on wheels which would run into the river a sufficient depth to submerge the unit. Because of the fact that the unit sits on the river bottom below the surface of the river, there is no danger of floating debris damaging the blades.

It is intended that the chamber defined by the portions I5, l6 and I! shall be filled with oil to thus reduce friction as much as possible. A small pressure relief valve may be disposed in the base to take care of any pressure developed by water which might seep past the paddles. Water being heavier than oil will go to the bottom and the oil level which will be within one inch of the top when filled, will naturally be forced up filling the upper portion of the casting or base, while the water will find its level and pass out through the outlet or relief valve in the base. The thrust nut and lock nut designated 23 in the drawings takes up any up-and-down thrust, and by operating this nut any thrust may be taken out of the crank shaft. The lower ball-bearing 22 carries the vertical load of the power head and the crank shaft.

It will be seen that the blades have a streamline form both longitudinally and transversely so as to offer as little possible resistance to the flow of the water past the blades when they are feathering or when they are moving up-stream.

While I have illustrated certain details of construction and arrangement of parts, I do not wish to be limited to this as obviously many minor changes might be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims, and particularly I do not wish to be limited to the use of any particular number of blades or paddles or any particular number of pumping cylinders. While I have illustratedmy mechanism as being used for pumping water, it is to be understood that the shaft I9 may be used entirely for transmitting power, in which case of course the pumping mechanism would be removed 55 and theshaft l9 operatively connected to shafts extending to the bank of the river whereby to transmit the power to any suitable mechanism.

As before stated, the tips or caps Ei'ilil are preferably hollow and, of course, made watertight for the reason that this makes these tips buoyant and tends to cause the vane or blade to change its positions more freely and more quickly. The lower chamber enclosing the cranks 20 may befilled with oil from any inlet opening closed'by l5? a plug.

What is claimed is:

1. A current motor including a vertical shaft, a power head carried thereby, radially extending horizontal shafts on the head, buoyant blades 20 radial toand mounted on the horizontal shafts for swinging movement with the shafts from a horizontal to a vertical position, the blades being eccentrically mounted on the shafts, each blade being naviculate in longitudinal section and the lateral ends of the blade being tapered to a sharp edge and means limiting the swinging movement of each blade and shaft to an angle of approximately said means being so arranged and constructed that the blades will swing to a verti- 30 cal position when the pressure of water is against the rear face of the blade and to a horizontal position when the pressure is against the opposite face of the blade.

2. A current motor including a vertical shaft, a power head carried on the shaft, the head being hollow and having an outer annular wall and a central annular wall, both of said walls being provided with a plurality of radially disposed bearings, a plurality of radial shafts extending through the bearings, a buoyant blade carried by and rotatable with each shaft and radial to the shaft, the blade being eccentric to the shaft, and means associated with each shaft and disposed between the outer wall and the inner wall of the head for limiting the swinging movement of each blade to an angle of approximately 90, said means being so arranged and constructed that the blades will swing to a vertical position when the pressure of water is against the rear face of the blade and to a horizontal position when the pressure is against the opposite face of the blade.

3. A current motor including a vertical shaft, a power head carried thereon, the power head being hollow and provided with an outer peripheral wall and an inner annular wall, both of said walls being provided with a plurality of alined bearings, radial shafts mounted in said bearings and extending outward from the power head, buoyant blades carried upon said shafts radially thereto, the shafts being eccentric to the center of the blades, the shafts permitting oscillation of the blades from a vertical to a horizontal position and vice versa through an angle of approximately 90, and means limiting the movement of each shaft including a seat disposed between the outer wall and the inner wall of the head, a seat and a shaft resting in said seat, the seat having abutments on each side of the shaft and 70 lugs carried by the shaft and disposed at an angle of 90 and alternately engaging said abutments as the shaft is oscillated adapted to cause the blades to swing to a vertical position when the pressure of water is against the rear face of the 75 blade and to a horizontal position when the pressure is against the opposite face of the blade.

4. A current motor including a vertical shaft, a power head carried thereby, radially extending horizontal shafts on the head and blades eccentrically mounted upon said shafts and disposed radial thereto, each blade including a plurality of ribs mounted upon the shaft and naviculate in plan and keyed upon the shaft, means holding said ribs in assembled relation and metal tips embracing the end ribs and attached thereto, the tips having a naviculate form in cross section but tapering towards their ends to provide a relatively sharp rounded edge for each tip.

5. In a structure of the character described,

a shaft, and a blade mounted thereon, the blade being formed of a plurality of wooden ribs disposed in abutting relation along the shaft and keyed thereto, the shaft extending through the ribsadiacent one end of each rib, means on the shaft for holding the ribs in conjoined relation, 2. bolt passing transversely through the ribs adjacent the other end of the ribs and metallic tips embracing the edges of the end ribs and attached thereto, said metallic tips being naviculate in cross section and tapering both longitudinally and transversely toward the edges whereby the blade is given a stream line form in both dimensions.

WILLIAM FRANK KAMMER- 

